Urban Tourism and Transportation; The Lesson for Atlanta

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Abstract

Tourism has exponentially increased over the years due to the
drastic improvement in transportation systems leading to ease of travel.
Cities, being the centers of economy and development, have greatly benefitted
from this advancement in infrastructure resulting in a new form of tourism
focused on cities. Cities such as New York City, London, Copenhagen and
Chicago have been pioneers in urban tourism. The transportation features of
these cities such as extensive bike and pedestrian infrastructure,
tourist-oriented transit, great accessibility and connectivity have greatly
helped in attracting tourists from all over the world. The World Tourism
Cities Federation (WTCF) uses World Tourism City Index to evaluate the
ranking of cities in terms of tourism but does not include transportation
characteristics as parameters to measure attraction to cities. This paper
identifies transportation features that can be included in the Index based on
the characteristics of tourist-friendly cities. The modified Index is used to
evaluate Atlanta as a urban tourist destination.